GSAP + ScrollTrigger vs Rive
GSAP + ScrollTrigger and Rive solve the same job (Animation & motion), so this is a pick-one decision. GSAP + ScrollTrigger is our default here: This is the scrolled-feature-article tool. Pinned photo sequences, a headline that assembles as you scroll, a timeline piece that scrubs — that is ScrollTrigger, and nothing else comes close. Webflow acquired GreenSock and made every formerly-paid plugin free in 2025. Core + ScrollTrigger + SplitText is ~49 kB gz. Watch out: Free but not OSI open source — a custom Webflow-owned licence that bars using GSAP inside competing no-code animation builders. Building scroll-driven features with it is squarely permitted. Release cadence has slowed to 2–3/year under Webflow.
- Free with no card: GSAP + ScrollTrigger.
- Editor's pick: GSAP + ScrollTrigger.
| Field | GSAP + ScrollTriggergsap.com Not yet swept | Riverive.app Not yet swept |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Framework-agnostic animation engine whose differentiator is the timeline model: sequence, offset, nest, reverse and scrub complex choreography with precise control. ScrollTrigger handles scroll-driven and pinned animation; SplitText does per-character reveals. | Design tool plus lightweight runtime for interactive vector animation — the Lottie alternative. You build a state machine so the animation responds to inputs, export a tiny .riv file, and drive it from code. |
| Category | Animation & motion | Animation & motion |
| Cost tier | free | paid |
| Pricing | Free — all plugins, since 2025 | Runtimes free MIT · publishing $9/seat/mo |
| Why builders pick it | This is the scrolled-feature-article tool. Pinned photo sequences, a headline that assembles as you scroll, a timeline piece that scrubs — that is ScrollTrigger, and nothing else comes close. Webflow acquired GreenSock and made every formerly-paid plugin free in 2025. Core + ScrollTrigger + SplitText is ~49 kB gz. | Only worth it if you have three or more animations to amortize the WASM and a designer to own the files. An unowned .riv is an opaque binary nobody can edit. |
| Watch out for | Free but not OSI open source — a custom Webflow-owned licence that bars using GSAP inside competing no-code animation builders. Building scroll-driven features with it is squarely permitted. Release cadence has slowed to 2–3/year under Webflow. | Publishing moved behind a paywall in Oct 2025 — the free tier cannot export a .riv for production. And the runtime is 88 kB JS plus a 725 kB gzipped WASM binary (304 kB on canvas-lite), fetched from unpkg by default — self-host it and call RuntimeLoader.setWasmUrl(). |
| How to wire it up | npm install gsap @gsap/react | npm install @rive-app/react-canvas |
| Editor's pick | Yes | No |
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